Tornado fighters have been scrambled 20 times in the last year to intercept Russian aircraft near British airspace, the RAF has revealed.

Jets intercepted two Russian Blackjack bombers – Tupolev TU-160 aircraft – near Scotland after they had been seen earlier by Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic fighters.

Two RAF Tornado F3 fighters from 111 Squadron were scrambled from RAF Leuchars, in Fife, in the early hours of 10 March, the RAF said.

The aircraft intercepted the Russian planes near Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

The Tornados shadowed the bombers as they flew south before turning north off the Northern Ireland coast.

Eventually, the Russians left UK airspace and, after four hours, the Tornado crews stood down and returned to Leuchars.

Wing Commander Mark Gorringe, the commander of 111 Squadron, said: "This is not an unusual incident, and people may be surprised to know that our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009.

"Our pilots, navigators and indeed all the support personnel at RAF Leuchars work very hard to deliver the UK Quick Reaction Alert Force, which can be scrambled in minutes, 24 hours a day to defend the UK from unidentified aircraft entering our airspace, or aircraft in distress."

There was no indication that the Russian planes intended to enter British airspace but were simply showing Russia could still deploy long-range bombers in areas of potential interest to Moscow despite the end of the cold war, defence officials said.